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For high speed development purposes and as a test bed for a 15-tonne engine that was being developed by the Tumansky bureau with a view to powering a proposed Mach=3.0 high-altitude interceptor (which was to materialise as the MiG-25), the MiG OKB developed what was ostensibly a pure research aircraft, the Ye-150. Powered by a Tumansky R-15-300 engine of 6840kg boosted to 10150kg with afterburning, the Ye-150 flew for the first time on 8 July 1960, and was subsequently to attain a speed of Mach=2.65 or 2816km/h and a ceiling of 22500m. Design of an all-weather high-altitude interceptor based on the research aircraft had paralleled work on the Ye-150. As the Ye-152A, this had been adapted to take two proven R-11F-300 engines owing to development problems with the large R-15 engine which were resulting in serious delays.

In consequence, the Ye-152A interceptor fighter was ready to fly before the Ye-150 research aircraft upon which it was based, this event taking place on 10 July 1959.

Powered by two R-11F-300 engines each rated at 3900kg and 5740kg with afterburning, the Ye-152A was intended to carry the Uragan 5B radar accommodated in a large, fixed intake centrebody and a pair of MiG-developed K-9 (K-155) long-range beam-riding missiles. While the intake centrebody of the Ye-152A was non-translatable, the extreme forward fuselage with intake orifice was hydraulically movable, thus achieving the same effect as a fully-variable shock cone. The Ye-152A was overtaken by the R-15-powered Ye-152, and its flight test programme was terminated after 55 flights of which only two were made carrying K-9 AAMs.

Ye-152P

With the availability of the R-15-300 engine in acceptable form for fighter installation, the MiG OKB built two further prototypes of the Ye-152 with a single turbojet of this type supplanting the paired R-11F-300s of the Ye-152A. Retaining the systems of the Ye-152A, the Ye-152/1 and /2 were powered by the R-15-300 rated at 6890kg and boosted to 10210kg with afterburning. A larger delta wing swept back to 53° 47' on the leading edge was fitted, and the tips terminated in launchers for two K-9 AAMs.

Equipped with Uragan 5B, the Ye-152/1 flew for the first time on 16 May 1961, and in the course of the following flight test programme, the Ye-152/2 attained 2740km/h and an altitude of 22500m, Mach=2.28 being recorded at 18000m with two K-9 missiles. Continuing development of the basic design resulted in the construction of two more prototypes, the first of these joining the test programme early in 1961 as the Ye-152P. Fitted with more sophisticated intercept and navigation equipment, the Ye-152P had a deeper and broader dorsal fairing substantially increasing internal fuel capacity and was intended to be fitted with an 3.50m canard surface which was to be free-floating at subsonic speeds and locked at supersonic speeds. In the event, this canard was not fitted.

Development of the Ye-152 series of interceptors was stopped as a result of the OKB 's preoccupation with the Ye-155P (MiG-25P), but the remaining prototype was completed for high-speed research as the Ye-152M with an R-15B-300 engine providing an afterburning thrust of 10210kg. This aircraft established (as the Ye-166) an absolute speed record over a 100km closed-circuit of 2601km/h on 7 October 1961, and an absolute speed record of 2681km/h on 7 July 1962.